News that Mont Marie’s 52-acre property in Holyoke is under purchase and sale agreement to Tryko Partners, LLC, of New Jersey, while emotional, is hardly surprising and feels almost inevitable. It is, in a sense, a mixed blessing.

The sale could benefit the Sisters of St. Joseph who stay as well as others who live on the campus, with Tryko receiving high ranks from U.S. News and World Report in terms of the care it offers at some of its facilities.

The 84-bed Mont Marie Health Care Center will be sold under the arrangement. Tryko will take over management of the Mont Marie Residence and the St. Joseph Residence, but the sisters will retain use of the chapel and cemetery. That, too, will help the order retain some of its sense of community. And to put this in perspective, the majority of sisters will live within a 15-mile radius.

Still, the saddest part is the breakup of what must feel like family to the sisters who have made each other and the campus their home for years.

What’s convenient about this arrangement is that some won’t have to move. They’ll be able to age in place.

There are far worse ways for the order to have disposed of its assets.

This, in a way, is a graceful outcome for women who have led gracious lives.